Amazon EC2 vs Google Compute Engine comparison

The compared Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google solutions aren't in the same category. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is ranked #6 in CS , with an average rating of 9.1, and holds a 5.1% mindshare in the category. Google is ranked #10 in ISI , with an average rating of 8.6, and holds a 0.9% mindshare. Additionally, 98% of Amazon Web Services (AWS) users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 93% of Google users who would recommend it.

Amazon EC2

Read 67 Amazon EC2 reviews

984 Views
895 Comparison Views

98% willing to recommend

Google Compute Engine

Read 16 Google Compute Engine reviews

615 Views
461 Comparison Views

93% willing to recommend

Amazon EC2

Google Compute Engine

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Amazon EC2 and Google Compute Engine based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

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Buyer's Guide

Compute Service

July 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Amazon EC2

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

7.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Compute Service (6th)

Google Compute Engine

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

7.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS) (10th)

Mindshare comparison

While both are Cloud Services solutions, they serve different purposes. Amazon EC2 is designed for Compute Service and holds a mindshare of 5.1%, down 7.5% compared to last year.
Google Compute Engine, on the other hand, focuses on Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS), holds 0.9% mindshare, up 0.3% since last year.

Compute Service

Infrastructure as a Service Clouds (IaaS)

Featured Reviews

KatlegoMabila

Senior AWS Account Manager at Silicon Overdrive

Offers customization and flexibility with great support

Scalability depends on whether the client wants to scale up or scale down. It decreases resources based on demand. The great aspect of scalability is the flexibility to allow business success to optimize resource solutions and cost efficiency. Another crucial aspect of scalability is auto-scaling. When you have the opportunity to auto-scale, it can't always be available for everything. If you have chosen to integrate with auto-scaling, it's marvellous and doesn't require additional effort. Auto-scaling gives you the edge by using the capacity you have efficiently, scaling up or down as needed. These flexibilities within the EC2 feature instances of AWS play a crucial role in helping me utilize AWS EC2 Intelligent efficiently.

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WahyuKurniawan

Head of Software Engineering at Abarobotics.com

Reasonably priced and offers high availability features

The synchronization between two tools, meaning if I have another server outside Google Cloud, as far as I know, I cannot mimic the server in Google Cloud to another server outside Google Cloud. I don't know if Google has the above-mentioned features or not, and if it does have them, then maybe Google can help us set things right and how to make a server mimic either of the servers outside Google. With the hot swap features or if Google Cloud itself is down, we can replace the services with another server. Right now, I have another server outside Google as a backup of a production server. There should be synchronization between servers inside Google and those outside it. The high availability features in Google are only available in Google Compute Engine in different regions. If I have another server outside Google, the high availability features in Google cannot synchronize with such a server.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"EC2 instances on AWS allow users to run virtual servers based on the CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity."

"The flexibility of the security features is what is interesting."

"The ability to quickly spin up instances on demand with zero upfront costs or infrastructure is the most valuable for me."

"I would recommend this solution to others who want to start using it."

"Amazon EC2's most valuable feature I have heard from clients is easy provisioning. Provisioning is very quick and easy."

"One of the most valuable features of EC2 is its accessibility; I can easily access it through various tools like GIT and use it on mobile devices."

"Stable, scalable, and simple to implement."

"The most valuable feature of this solution is the ability to have standard operating systems along with the Windows, Linux operating systems, and their maintenance-free structure, which we prefer."

More Amazon EC2 pros

"In GCP, there's a custom configuration feature unlike AWS and Azure"

"The support for ephemeral instances has been particularly valuable for me. It allows me to significantly reduce costs for temporary virtual machines by automatically destroying them once they are no longer needed, which can result in cost savings of up to 90 percent. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."

"The most valuable feature is auto-scaling."

"Google is managing all hardware. You don't need to provision or pre-provision your computer engine."

"The overall product rating is nine out of ten."

"One of GCE's best features is the managed instance groups."

"The main motive for choosing Google Compute Engine is pricing."

"The solution is readily available, and software engineers can provision it. It is scalable and allows self-service."

More Google Compute Engine pros

Cons

"The solution’s pricing and downtimes could be improved."

"One of the challenges is the AMI upgrades."

"Accessibility must be improved."

"am concerned about the tool's data security."

"They have to provide clarity on pricing. It's not transparent."

"In terms of improvement, they could build some client-side desktop tools that provide easier connectivity to Amazon."

"The tool’s stability could be better."

"There should be enhanced accessibility from any standpoint. The accessibility should be increased, particularly in scenarios where accessing the software on the Azure platform from the cloud can be complex. Simplifying this process would be beneficial. There are too many steps involved."

More Amazon EC2 cons

"Sometimes support takes time to reply."

"The licensing process is not a very straightforward process."

"There have been instances when a customer has tried to deploy a certain number of VMs inside a project, and they come across quota issues."

"It has some limitations. For example, you don't get through layer two connectivity. So I've had some difficulty deploying custom VMs. For example, you can't deploy a KVM file to file directly on GCP."

"The high availability features in Google are only available in Google Compute Engine in different regions. If I have another server outside Google, the high availability features in Google cannot synchronize with such a server."

"Google has a lack of focus on their products."

"I rate the product's stability around five to six out of ten."

"It would be better if there was an option to change the background. Like in Gmail, there's an option to change your theme."

More Google Compute Engine cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pricing appears to be cheap, however, it is extremely difficult in calculating what something will cost."

"When we did the deployment of Amazon EC2 we found it to be less expensive than other solutions."

"I am using the tier three Amazon service. I am not going to use another solution other than Amazon EC2 because here in Pakistan there are some payment issues for solutions abroad."

"It's expensive, and it could be cheaper."

"It is not an expensive solution."

"Amazon EC2 has a pay-as-you-use cost model."

"The clients have found the billing of Amazon EC2 good, but the price could be less high. There is a monthly subscription to use the solution."

"The price of Amazon EC2 could improve. The Google Cloud Platform is more cost-effective."

More Amazon EC2 pricing and cost advice

"The tool is reasonably priced, considering its scalability features. If we want to extend the server's capacity, we can do it, and I think it's reasonable."

"In terms of improvement, one is definitely the licensing piece. So there is a feature, the BYOL (Bring Your Own License) licensing piece, to bring your own license. It is not that straightforward. It requires some support from Google to get it sorted, access those licenses, and configure those licenses."

"Google is providing money for learning Google Compute Engine. They offer a $300 free trial to new customers. Any beginner can easily get started."

"I rate GCE's pricing a five out of ten since it's affordable."

"Google Compute Engine is not the least expensive solution. Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft One, are offering a less expensive solution. The price is based on usage. Whenever we use it, we have to pay for only usage. It is a pay-as-you-go model."

"Google Compute Engine's pricing is flexible and the best of all other alternatives."

"It's $60,000 to $70,000 a month to replace about $10,000 a month in data center costs."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

27%

Computer Software Company

12%

Performing Arts

Comms Service Provider

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon EC2?

The scalability and elasticity are helpful.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Amazon EC2?

Amazon EC2 is a bit expensive.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Amazon EC2?

The main thing that needs improvement is the cost. Other than that, there is nothing that needs improvement.

See all answers

What do you like most about Google Compute Engine?

Everything is simple and useful. The initial setup is not challenging.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Compute Engine?

Google resources are cheaper compared to AWS and Microsoft Azure. Among the three, Google is the cheapest option.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Google Compute Engine?

Google has a lack of focus on their products. They have many products in various areas of the market, but they do not productize or appeal to the market effectively. They should concentrate on prod...

See all answers

Comparisons

AWS Batch vs Amazon EC2

Compared 23% of the time

AWS Lambda vs Amazon EC2

Compared 18% of the time

AWS Fargate vs Amazon EC2

Compared 16% of the time

Apache Spark vs Amazon EC2

Compared 11% of the time

Google App Engine vs Amazon EC2

Compared 8% of the time

More Amazon EC2 Competitors

VMware Cloud Foundation vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 30% of the time

Tencent Cloud vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 17% of the time

Amazon AWS vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 13% of the time

Google Cloud vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 12% of the time

Microsoft Azure vs Google Compute Engine

Compared 11% of the time

More Google Compute Engine Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Amazon EC2

July 2025

Download Amazon EC2 product report

Buyer's Guide

Google Compute Engine

July 2025

Download Google Compute Engine product report

Also Known As

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2

No data available

Overview

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides secure, resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It is designed to make web-scale cloud computing easier for developers.

Amazon EC2’s simple web service interface allows you to obtain and configure capacity with minimal friction. It provides you with complete control of your computing resources and lets you run on Amazon’s proven computing environment. Amazon EC2 reduces the time required to obtain and boot new server instances to minutes, allowing you to quickly scale capacity, both up and down, as your computing requirements change. Amazon EC2 changes the economics of computing by allowing you to pay only for capacity that you actually use. Amazon EC2 provides developers the tools to build failure resilient applications and isolate them from common failure scenarios.

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Google Compute Engine delivers virtual machines running in Google's innovative data centers and worldwide fiber network. Compute Engine's tooling and workflow support enable scaling from single instances to global, load-balanced cloud computing.

Compute Engine's VMs boot quickly, come with persistent disk storage, and deliver consistent performance. Our virtual servers are available in many configurations including predefined sizes or the option to create Custom Machine Types optimized for your specific needs. Flexible pricing and automatic sustained use discounts make Compute Engine the leader in price/performance.

Google

Sample Customers

Netflix, Expedia, TimeInc., Novaris, airbnb, Lamborghini

Allthecooks, BetterCloud, Bluecore, Cosentry, Evite, Ezakus, HTC, Infectious Media, iStreamPlanet, Mendelics, SageMathCloud, Sedex, Treeptik, Wibigoo, Wix, zulily, Zync

Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache, Oracle and others in Compute Service. Updated: July 2025.

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